MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1256627
Q - How did you get started with art? Since childhood, I was always interested in drawing things around me. I was really inspired by animals—if I saw something cool in a book or magazine, I was naturally drawn to capturing that in a drawing. I watched Disney movies growing up, and I was fascinated by the magic of animation. It was really my natural desire to create and design things, whether from imagination or from life and to have drawings to show people around me. As I grew up, I didn't want to keep this passion only as a hobby and wanted to pursue it as a career. Q - What was your journey to becoming a professional artist? In the beginning, I wanted to be an animator, but I grew up in Syria, where we didn't have many animation studios. The internet wasn't packed with tutorials at that time either, so learning to animate wasn't easy. I decided to pick the most creative alternative I had when I went to college, which was architecture. I wasn't really sure I wanted to pursue it as a career, but I enjoyed learning about design, design language, designing buildings, and interior design. Later, I went to Italy to continue my architecture studies, where I was once again strongly inspired by other mediums of art. At that point, I still wanted animation to be my focus, not a hobby. Luckily, I got job offers in animation as well as architecture. Naturally, I was drawn to taking the path of animation, because it was a lot more exciting for me. Q - Did you ever feel uncertain about your choice of animation over architecture? There were times when I didn't quite know which I should pursue, but even after years of studying architecture, I always had more books about art and design. Drawing architecture is fun, but as a job, it is a little too specific and systematic for me. I saw that my colleagues working in architecture studios were rarely able to design their own things. Instead, I decided to use my architecture to support my animation design, for example, in set design projects. It's added something extra to my design skills. Q - You've worked for major TV networks, like Dreamworks TV and Cartoon Network. How did you get started in the industry? I started my first job at a design agency in Dubai, where we created designs and animations for TV commercials, as well as architectural visualizations. Two years later, Cartoon Network opened a branch in the Emirates. I met a few people from Cartoon Network there, and they liked the art that I was doing in my free time, so we kept in touch. I first worked on smaller projects for them, and then later, they offered me a full- time art director position. Since then, I've been building my portfolio and my social media presence, becoming more and more involved in the TV and film animation industry. Q - What's your favorite part about working for TV? I like my role as an art director because I can do many different things and it's never boring. For